Written question asked by John Denham (Labour) on Friday, 29 October 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 10 November 2004. It was answered by Kim Howells (Labour) on Wednesday, 10 November 2004 on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills.

Dept for Education and Skills

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, what assessment he has made of the retention rate of scientists employed by universities. - Inc table.

Answer: Mr. Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the retention rate of scientists employed by universities. [195633] Dr. Howells: We have made no assessment of the retention rate of scientists employed by universities. However, we do have access to the latest available information from the Higher Education Statistics Agency, which is shown in the following table. We have taken `scientists' to mean academic staff in all science subjects. Retention rates1 of academic staff2 on permanent contracts UK HE institutions _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Percentage Academic year Staff in science departments3 All staff 1994/95 97 97 2002/03 96 96 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1 The retention rate is defined as the proportion of staff who were recorded at the same institution at both the beginning and end of the academic year. 2 Covers full-time and part-time staff on permanent contracts. 3 Includes staff in cost centres covering all science subjects. Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency's Staff Record.

Secondary information